Once press for War for the Planet of the Apes wraps up in the next week or so, Matt Reeves will be dedicating his full, movie-making attention on the DC Extended Universe's Batman movie. With nearly 80 years of comic book history, there's more than enough material to sustain the Dark Knight across numerous movies, and given the character's cinematic history, one wouldn't be jumping the gun assuming that this won't be his only DCEU standalone tale. While Reeves has given some thought about what could happen in sequels, for now he's focusing on telling just one good Batman story as opposed to plotting out an entire trilogy. He explained:
I have ideas about an arc, but really, the important thing is just to start... you have to start with one. You know, you have to start with a story that begins something. And I would be lying if I could tell you that the arcs of Apes was already planned out, because it simply wasn't; it's one of those things where that character was so potent, and the possibility was embedded from the beginning, but exactly how you've got from A to Z is not something that existed.
As mentioned earlier, there's a lot of Batman comics history to adapt for movies, so anyone remotely familiar with the Caped Crusader could come up with some ideas for sequels after a brainstorming session. Two ideas that immediately come to my mind are Batman fighting Hush or dealing with a resurrected Jason Todd. But Matt Reeves has wisely decided to forgo thinking too far ahead on the future of Ben Affleck's Batman, as his experience working on 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes showed him that a lot can change during the creative process. Reeves continued to Fandango:
In fact, when I came in on Dawn, the story that I wanted to tell was different from the story that they had even presented me. And so, there are these broad ideas, I think, that sort of came to mind as Rise was created, of how that story could be told, but they weren't explicitly laid-out. And when Mark and I began Dawn, we knew what our goals were, but we didn't know how we were gonna get there, and I would say that that more relates to the way that I see a Batman story, is a kind of ambition for a series of stories, but really the most important thing is gonna be to tell a vital first story.
The only specific plot information that has been revealed about the Batman movie is that it will see the eponymous protagonist battling Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke, although since Matt Reeves is reportedly re-writing the script, it's unclear if the orange and black-garbed assassin will still appear. Reeves has also expressed interest in telling a "noir-driven, detective" story that shows the audience what's going on in his head and heart. If Reeves does decide he wants to direct more Batman movies, it's important that this first movie is successful, so by all means, sir, keep your focus on telling the best story you can the first time around, and then you can turn your attention to what comes later for Gotham City's protector.
The Batman movie still doesn't have a release date assigned yet, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates. Matt Reeves' next movie, War for the Planet of the Apes, opens on July 14.
